Foreign minister: Germany could pay more into the EU

Published March 22, 2017

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, talks to Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel prior to the weekly cabinet meeting of the German government at the chancellery in Berlin, Wednesday, March 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) (The Associated Press)

Germany's foreign minister is suggesting his country could offer to pay more money into the European Union, arguing that investing in Europe is "an investment in our own future."

Sigmar Gabriel made his suggestion in an article for Wednesday's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

Germany is a net contributor to the 28-nation EU's budget. But Gabriel argued that "every euro we put into the EU budget comes back to us several times, directly or indirectly." And he said some EU partners, such as Sweden and the Netherlands, pay more per head to the bloc.

Gabriel floated the idea of signaling that Germany could pay more, rather than "fighting for a reduction in our payments." He didn't say how much more.

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